How Do You Quantify Perfection?
by ElsieLorraine
Summary: The hardest task of a coordinator is to be perfect.


**How Do You Quantify Perfection?**

(*)

_The hardest task of a coordinator is to be perfect._

(*)

Drew looked up at the score that was given to him by the judges. Despite the fact that he had gotten one of the best scores in the competition and had beaten his previous personal best, he frowned ever so slightly; it was as if there was no change in his otherwise stoic and composed expression. While his garnered score was more or less expected from coordinators of his caliber, Drew was still somewhat disappointed.

He had gotten a 29.6, a score so close yet so far from the perfect score.

In his eleven years of coordinating, Drew had yet to achieve a perfect score. In his whole career, and of all his colleagues ever since he'd been part of the competition, it was only twice that a perfect score had been given out during the appeals round: the first was to Robert during a Grand Festival wherein the coordinator later added yet another Top Coordinator title to his name, and the other to a coordinator called Mimi, who in the end lost the very same contest she achieved the perfect score.

Even after he himself had received a Top Coordinator title three years earlier, Drew had not yet received a perfect score. With a title to his name, Drew turned his efforts to focus on his new goal: to get the full thirty points in an appeals round of a contest. Achieving another Top Coordinator title along the way was just another added bonus. Besides, what better goal was there to have than that which hasn't been personally achieved?

It wasn't that Drew lusted for perfection, although he did acknowledge why people would think he did. Many people stereotypically classified coordinators as perfectionists, and it was in vain for a coordinator to deny that they were. With coordinators vying for the perfect appeal, the perfect attack combinations their Pokemon can make, and the perfect outfit for the performance, at least in the case of Super Contests in Sinnoh, there was no way coordinators could not be perfectionists. However, Drew's quest for a perfect score was more to do with his curiosity than anything else.

_What exactly did it take to be awarded a perfect score?_

He wanted to challenge himself to do a feat he, up to that point, could not do. Furthermore, he wanted to challenge the system. He wanted to know how much the judges' idea of perfection matched his own ideas and standards of perfection, if the concept of perfection even existed.

As the next coordinator was called to the stage, Drew returned Masquerain into its pokeball, not without thanking the pokemon for its efforts, and headed backstage to the coordinator's waiting room. He'd worry about thinking of new appeals later on. Right now, he had a contest battle to prepare for he wasn't willing to give up so easily.

* * *

"I'll admit to being surprised that you actually got your first of this region's ribbons before I got mine."

May rolled her eyes playfully before turning around to the person who had spoken to her. She saw Drew leaning on the lockers in the waiting room, watching her finish pack up. Most of the other coordinators who had competed in the day's contest had already cleared out from the waiting room before the final battle round, which May had competed in. She had beaten Drew during the semi-finals.

"Thank you for your confidence in me, Mr. Perfect," May replied. Drew smirked in return. May, as one of the people closest to Drew, was well aware of his 'Operation: Perfect' as the brunette had named it a few months ago.

"Of course, Princess," Drew replied, using the nickname given to her by practically all coordinating magazines. He pulled out a rose from behind him and handed it to May who pinked slightly, like she always did, at the young man's gesture. With her hands around the stem of the flower, she resumed what she was doing prior to the exchange, and Drew went back to where he was leaning minutes earlier.

"Have you figured it out yet?" May asked before she zipped up her bag and secured it around her waist. As she did so, Drew made his way out of the waiting room, knowing May would follow soon after. "You were 0.2 points closer this time around."

"Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you what it was. I wouldn't want you to copy me, would I?"

"I'm the one who won earlier," May reminded to which her companion raised an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing in response. "So is that a 'no'?" she asked, catching up to Drew as they walked out of the contest arena. Drew only hummed in response, neither in full agreement nor disagreement. "When are you going to stop with it though?"

"What makes you think I will?"

May pouted at Drew's answer. "Are you stopping when you get the full thirty points?" she pressed, making Drew chuckle lightly.

"No," he replied. "After that I'm going to figure out how to win the battle round without having any of my points taken off. Although that task will take a lot more time for me to figure out."

"How come?"

Drew patted May's head as if she were a little kid, before dropping his hand on the shoulder of May which was further away from him. "I can't even get through the appeals round without having a perfect score, Princess. Realistically speaking, that's the easiest of my goals to achieve."

May looked up at Drew with genuinely curious eyes. "Do you really think perfection is attainable?"

Drew smirked.

"When you put numbers to it, why wouldn't it be?"

* * *

In her free time, which was when she was neither training for a contest, nor chit-chatting to May, nor stopping Harley from performing his ridiculous antics, Solidad took it to herself to watch other coordinators practice. By 'other coordinators,' it usually meant 'Drew.' Her reasons for watching him were, unlike most other coordinators, to make sure the younger coordinator did not push himself too far.

Then again, Solidad was not entirely sure what "too far" meant outside the physical realm, and she was well aware that Drew would call it a day if he knew his pokemon were already tired. He had learnt in his earlier journeys that pushing his pokemon way past their breaking points, either or both physical and emotional, was very detrimental to the their growth. Absol taught him that.

In all honesty, even Solidad did not know what limit she was trying to prevent Drew from crossing.

"Absol, return," Solidad heard Drew say from the area he was training and she made her way towards the younger coordinator. As Solidad walked down to Drew, the male coordinator saw her from his peripheral vision and made his way over.

"Dinner?" Solidad offered as Drew met her halfway in between where either coordinator was previously standing.

"At this time?" It was currently five o'clock in the evening, a somewhat awkward time between the late afternoon and early evening, and definitely not a time in the day which either coordinator was used to eating their meal for the night.

"If we go to a restaurant, it will take around another hour before we actually have food served," Solidad pointed out.

"Just the two of us?" Drew asked, silently agreeing to having dinner.

"I'd text May to come out, but you know how she is the night before contests, right?" Solidad said. The youngest of the bunch had a tendency to become uneasy on the day before a contest, and would isolate herself until she calmed down. In earlier years of May's solo travelling, either Solidad or Drew would have sought her out to comfort her, but they'd later acknowledge her actions as nervous tendencies the younger coordinator would get over if she were given enough time.

"Harley?" Drew asked with a hint of disgust in his voice. Even after so long, Harley was still not completely in Drew's good books.

"I won't call him if May doesn't come. You probably wouldn't be able to concentrate if he showed himself to you."

"Okay," Drew said. "Dinner it is then."

After the pair had settled down in a pizza place and had ordered, Solidad filled in the silence with conversation.

"So what's your goal tomorrow?"

"Higher than last time." Solidad hummed at the response. "I mean, if I get the full thirty points, that would be great."

"I hope that happens soon. You're getting too obsessed with this." The blunt statement momentarily caught Drew off-guard.

"I'm not getting too obsessed with this," he protested, crossing his arms over his chest as he did so. "It's just taking too much time to figure out."

"Drew," Solidad started, "you've invested almost six months for this. You've been at it since halfway through the last region we were in."

"Again, it's because it's taken _too long_ to figure out. You really can't rush art, Solidad."

Solidad sighed. "I heard from May that your next plan is to go through the battles without having any of your points taken off."

"Of course you did," he said curtly.

"So it is true?"

Drew sighed almost exasperatedly. As much as he liked having Solidad around to talk to, there was still a limit as to how much he could take between classifying her talks as consultative or just nagging. "Why does it matter?"

"Because you're falling deeper and deeper into this obsession."

"No, I'm not," Drew defended yet again. He looked Solidad straight in the eyes and said, "Trust me when I say I'm not."

Pausing slightly, Solidad sighed. At that point, Drew was sure Solidad had dropped the topic.

For that night, at least.

* * *

"Hey."

Drew turned around to look for the source of the voice. He smirked when he saw May walking towards him, and moved over to make a space for her to sit down on the bench next to him.

"Hey yourself, Princess." May pouted when she heard the nickname. She plopped herself down next to Drew before turning to her rival.

"When are you going to stop using that nickname on me?" she complained. Drew's smirk did not falter, but the male coordinator did not reply to her. "Hey," May said again, punching Drew lightly on the arm to call the other coordinator's attention.

"After you stop calling me Mr. Perfect," Drew replied.

"And that will happen when you've finished this whole perfect score thing you're doing."

At Drew's questioning yet hard look, May seemed to shrink in her seat.

"What?" the brunette asked cautiously.

"Did Solidad ask you to talk to me?" Drew asked in reply.

"What? No. Why?"

The male coordinator sighed deeply. "She's under the impression that I'm getting too obsessed with this."

Beside him, May blinked and opened her mouth hesitantly, only to close it again. The act, however, was not unseen by Drew.

"You're agreeing with her," Drew said bluntly, expressing May's unspoken words. When the brunette did not deny this, Drew groaned. "Well, I'm not. Why would you think that too?"

May looked at Drew with an almost emotionless smile. "Well," she started lowly, "you're always training for it. And I've seen all your notebooks full of your notes and whatnot on it. Sometimes, I feel like it's the only thing in your head. Plus, you never spend time with any of us anymore."

"Can't a guy just put his effort into something _without being accused of being obsessed_? Anyway, I'm spending time with you right now," Drew defended, although it was convincing neither to May nor to himself.

"That's because the contest just ended and your pokemon are resting," May pointed out. "Speaking of the contest though, congratulations on winning it." He had finally caught up with the rest of his rivals, all of who already had their first ribbon, with the exception of Solidad who already had two. If he was being honest to himself, it did irk him that he had to go through five contests to gain his first ribbon. Even more so was the fact that Harley got his ribbon before Drew did. "And congratulations on getting the thirty points, I guess."

By some miracle (which really wasn't brought by a miracle, but countless hours of training and research), Drew had finally gotten the thirty points he wished to attain since half a year ago. His Pokemon were as ecstatic as he was, though the coordinator himself kept his emotions inside; his facade was still as cool and composed as it always was though there was literally a party among all his organs from his heart to his stomach.

"Thanks," Drew said, because there wasn't anything else to say. He suddenly got up, causing May to send a curious glance at him. "Get up," he told her rival, who followed what he said. "Where do you want to go?"

"What?" May asked, surprised.

"I asked where you wanted to go."

"Why?"

"Obviously so we can go there, Princess." Drew rolled his eyes before sending May another smirk.

"Like," May asked with a hesitant voice, "just the two of us?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Uh," May started, fidgeting in her spot. Drew saw her fidget and gently tapped her cheek with his two fingers.

"Well, we can invite Solidad too, but she isn't really complaining much about my lack of presence, unlike someone I know," the male coordinator said pointedly. "You're just making me feel guilty by saying I don't hang out with you anymore. And yes, when it comes to you and your sad little eyes, I do feel guilty. And besides, if I did make you cry, Solidad and a bunch of other people would come after me. So I'll make some time every now and then to take you out somewhere so you don't feel all lonely and stuff without me." May had to fight the blush that was appearing on her face.

May found herself speechless, and staring dumbly at her rival. "What?" she asked again, not because she didn't hear him, but because she was genuinely surprised about Drew's sudden offer. He wasn't really the 'spontaneous adventure' type of guy. The male coordinator must have been in such a great mood to offer such a thing.

Drew turned in his heel and began walking, leaving May in a frozen state. "Are you coming or not?" Drew asked over his shoulder, snapping May out of her thoughts. She grinned and ran over to catch up with her rival.

* * *

"You should be considerate to the people who care about you, you know?" At the sound of Harley's voice, Drew groaned loudly. "Granted, they're only a handful of people, but still."

"What do you want?" Drew asked rather rudely at the older coordinator.

"I'm trying to get you to go to sleep before Solidad wakes up. You know how she responds to her mother instincts with you."

It was currently two o'clock in the morning, and Drew had not slept a wink since he got up early the previous morning. It was nearing the Grand Festival and Drew had yet been able to complete a battle round wherein he did not lose any of his points. He got close enough though, with less than a fifth of his points taken off, but that was it. He only had one contest left to figure his battle round goal out (and win his fifth ribbon).

"Go to sleep, Harley," Drew said, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He stared at his notebook, reading his notes and trying to make sense of what he had written. All he saw on his notebook at that point were scribbles.

"I could tell you the same thing, you know?" The older coordinator stepped in front of Drew's light source, causing Drew to grimace. "I'd drag you to your room and lock you there if I need to."

"Why does it matter to you if I'm awake or not?"

"It doesn't matter to me if you are awake or not," Harley said. "It's Solidad that matters and chances are she'd wake up soon if you don't go to bed. She's worried about you and I don't want her pulling her hair out just because you're doing irresponsible things."

"She'd never pull her hair out."

"She'd do something close to make you rethink your life though."

"I've stayed up all night before," Drew reminded Harley. "A number of times."

"The fact that you've done it, and you've done it a lot, does not make it a responsible thing."

"When were you an advocate of doing responsible things?" Drew countered.

Tired, Harley sighed. "Look, I know you don't like me."

"That's putting it lightly."

"But you have to give me credit for looking out for Solidad," Harley continued as though Drew did not interrupt.

That was something Drew couldn't argue against. For as long as Drew knew Harley, the older coordinator had always done things to the best interest of Solidad. At least, he made sure that the things he did were within Solidad's values and approval.

"She doesn't show it, and it's utterly obvious to me, but she's _worried_," Harley said in a serious voice Drew probably never heard the older coordinator use before. "Because you're spending so much time on this whole thing."

"If you're going to say I'm obsessed with it, then you're wrong," Drew said in an annoyed manner. "It just takes so much time because it's _so damn hard_ to master."

"Then give up."

At that, Drew gave Harley a rather incredulous look. The older coordinator, however, maintained his serious façade. "What do you even get out of this?" Harley asked after the long silence between the two coordinators became deafening.

'Nothing really,' would have been Drew's answer, but he kept his mouth shut knowing that such answer would be used against him.

Smirking at Drew's silence, Harley spoke again. "Solidad's worried," he reiterated as though he expected Drew to not have listened to what he said earlier on. "Not to mention May."

"What do you know about May?" Drew asked harshly.

"We hang around each other more than you'd think, Drewy-poo."

Snarling at the nickname, Drew asked, "Why? Hasn't she learned not to trust you?"

Harley should have been offended at that comment, had it come from any other person. He was, however, accustomed to Drew acting as such.

"Even our little Princess knows how to forgive."

"Don't call her that," Drew said monotonously.

"Why? You do."

"That's different."

"How so?" Harley challenged. Drew remained silent. Normally he'd retaliate, but Harley was pretty witty that night. Either that, or Drew's brain wasn't fully functioning due to his lack of sleep.

Drew had decided, at that point, that he was done dealing with Harley. The younger coordinator began to pack his scattered papers and pens, before retrieving his pokeballs from the coffee table in front of him. With all his things gathered under his arm, he went to his room, just as Harley wanted.

"Even she knows that I'm not perfect, and she's accepted that" Harley said to Drew's retreating back. This make the younger coordinator stop for a moment in his tracks. "And neither are you, so stop trying to make yourself seem perfect. She's known for a while that you aren't either."

* * *

It was rare that May visited any of her rivals' rooms before. When Dawn and Zoey had travelled with her a couple of years ago, the three would share one single room and stay up until early morning, telling each other stories. Aside from them, and Ash and co., May never had any other travel buddies. Granted, she, Drew, Solidad, and Harley travelled the same region and probably took the same routes to get to places, but one or two would always arrive earlier than the others, leading each of the four to secure individual rooms.

In the morning of the Grand Festival, May found herself standing outside Drew's room at the Pokemon Center, her hand held up as though she was about to knock on the door. Hesitantly, she brought her knuckles to the door and knocked three times. Minutes later, the door swung open to reveal Drew, who looked as though he had just woken up, glaring right at her.

"Why are you up so early?" was the first thing that came out of the male coordinator's mouth as he glanced at the nearby clock. While he wasn't focused enough to read the time, he knew it was before six o'clock. The sun had not yet risen.

"That's not a very nice way to greet people," May commented.

"You woke me up before I actually _had_ to get up," Drew said as he made his way back to his bed to fold his covers. There was no way he could get back to sleep now that the spell had been broken, despite how tired he actually was. "You sort of deserved that." May stuck her tongue out at him. "What brings you here though?"

"I was nervous."

Drew stopped tidying his bed up to look at his rival. From the distance, there wasn't any trace of tiredness or lack of sleep on her face. Dropping his pillow on the bed, he made his way over to where May was lingering awkwardly at the door. He held May's chin in between his thumb and pointer finger and examined her face. From up close, the circles under her eyes were noticeably darker.

"Did you get any sleep at all?" Drew asked. He was well aware of May's tendencies to have a hard time sleeping if she was excited or nervous for something.

May nodded. "I got around four hours," she said. She looked into Drew's emerald eyes before examining his face like he did to hers seconds ago. May frowned. "Apparently I still got more than you though. You look like you only slept for an hour."

"You aren't far off," Drew admitted. In truth, he probably only slept for two. He walked back towards his bed, leaving May at her spot.

It was only then that she noticed the papers full of Drew's handwriting scattered all over the room.

"Were you up again _all night_?" she asked.

Drew hummed. "Do me a favor and don't tell Solidad for me," he said. "I'm probably going to get a lecture form her before the festival if you do."

"I'm leaning more towards telling her," May admitted carefully.

"For my sanity, and possibly yours," Drew said, looking up at her, "don't. At least wait until after the festival."

Hesitantly, May complied.

"Anyway," May started, remembering why she went into Drew's room in the first place. "I just dropped by to wish you luck later."

"You could've waited until we saw each other backstage, you know? That would have been better instead of you waking me up," Drew said, narrowing his eyes slightly at May. She swallowed nervously. "But whatever. Now that I'm up, do you want to get breakfast?"

"Breakfast?"

That made Drew chuckle. "You don't always have to repeat everything I say when I offer something, you know?"

"I know," May said sheepishly. "It's just that I find it a bit…" she trailed off.

"Weird?" Drew offered. "Unusual? Hard to get used to?"

"Yeah, something like that."

Drew smirked. "Consider yourself special then. I don't normally do things like this for other people. I only do it for you because you're spoiled, little Princess May." Again, May stuck her tongue out at her rival. "You're very childish in the morning, aren't you?" Drew commented amusedly.

"I am not a child. I am a woman."

"I'll be the judge of that."

"Whatever," May said. "Let's just get breakfast."

"If you'd wait fifteen minutes for me to get ready, we can go." Drew looked at where May was standing. "You can come in and sit down, you know. I don't bite."

Cautiously, as though Drew would bite despite what he'd proclaimed earlier, May made her way to sit at Drew's bed.

"Although I could if you wanted me to."

"Drew!" May exclaimed with horror in her voice. Her green-eyed rival just chuckled in response.

"I'm pulling your leg," he said as he got a set of clothes and made his way towards the bathroom. "I'm surprised you got that though. You're not as innocent as I thought you were."

"Just go get dressed."

* * *

"It looks as though Drew's perfect streak has not yet ended, folks!" the contest emcee announced as the judges scored Drew and his Pokemon's performance. "Let's give it up for Drew!"

As cheers erupted from the crowd, Drew made his way backstage with Roserade following his stead. He gave the next performer a polite nod as they passed each other. Later down his walk back to the waiting room, he saw Solidad who was talking to May, both of whom had performed earlier.

"Hey," Drew greeted the two as he approached. "What are you two doing outside?"

"Waiting for you," May replied. "We're going out for lunch, and possibly go around the city. To get our heads off tomorrow's battle round."

"First," Drew said, taking his bag off May's hold, "what makes you think I'll want to go with you guys? Second, how sure are you that you'll be in the battle round tomorrow?" Drew said the second line with a teasing smirk.

"You'd come anyway," Solidad replied. "And you and I both know we're all in. Including Harley."

"And you say I'm the one who's overconfident."

"I'm just stating the facts, Drew. You're one of the last to perform, and I'm aware that our scores are a few of the highest."

"I know," Drew said, slightly annoyed.

"I know you do. I'm just annoying you."

"Anyway," May said, butting in to the conversation that was going on, "there's this sushi place I want to try, and apparently it's really good. It's about a fifteen minute walk though, if you guys are okay with that."

"Sure. We've walked for longer distances before, anyway so we can handle this," Solidad said before Drew could offer his opinion. Then again, as Solidad had said earlier, Drew would have just gone anyway, regardless of where they were actually headed.

"Lead the way, Princess," Drew said. May bounced off with him and Solidad slowly following her stead. When May was out of hearing distance, Drew addressed Solidad. "I know what you're trying to do. You're not too subtle."

"I wasn't trying to be," Solidad replied, unnerved. "I'm just looking out for your health, you know. May just rode along with it." They walked a few more steps before Solidad spoke again.

"You're probably putting your care into places that don't _seek_ it, you know?"

* * *

He was nervous, but the crowds could not see that. He could, however, feel his hands start to shake, and so he shoved them in his pockets. He could feel the sweat forming on his forehead, but he wiped it off subtly with his hair flick, and returned his hand to a place people won't be able to see.

Drew was at the final stage, competing against Robert. He had been wanting to compete against Robert for the longest time, and now, Drew had finally been given that privilege. In his first ever battle with one of the generation's greatest coordinators, Drew did not know how to feel about that fact that it was more than three-quarters through the time and he was _winning_.

Not only was he winning, but he had yet to have _any_ of his points deducted.

He was hoping with all his heart, mind, and soul, that either the time run out more quickly, Robert's points run out more quickly, or Robert's Pokemon faint. With Robert's performance, Drew quickly decided that the only way he was sure to win the battle without losing any of his points was to dodge and attack prettily while simultaneously using Robert's Pokemon's attacks to his advantage.

He wanted to end it quickly, so as not to risk the loss of any of his points. He wanted to get his goal over with because, frankly, he had been getting tired. In all honestly, it was tiring for him to have to put so much effort into such thing he wasn't exactly sure was attainable.

_There is nothing perfect in this world._

That's what he _knew_.

And yet here Drew was trying to disprove that belief. Here he was trying to disprove that knowledge. Here he was trying to show people that perfection was indeed something that could be achieved in the world.

Here he was trying to prove that another person's view on perfection was more important than a personal view on perfection.

And that irked him. A lot.

What was perfect for him was literally not what type of attack moves and combinations he and his Pokemon have created for the contests. They were for other people's prefect.

Yet despite that, Drew thought that he might as well continue with it. Besides, he had gotten that far already. That, and at least he'd have a taste of perfection at least once, whatever "perfection" was.

"Fifteen seconds left on the clock, and Drew's points are still yet to decrease!"

Fifteen seconds. That was so near yet so far from zero seconds. In basketball games, fifteen seconds could go up to another minute. Sometimes, it could go up to even five. In a contest, when one is so close to reaching his or her goal, it feels like eternity.

Then the countdown begun.

_Ten._

_Nine._

_Eight._

"Use Twister, Milotic!"

_Seven._

_Six._

_Five._

_Four._

"Roselia, Solar Beam!"

_Three._

_Two._

When the two attacks met, an explosion appeared.

_One._

Panicked, Drew checked to see the results on the scoreboard only to realize that the smoke that had formed from the mini-explosion was covering it. He heard his heart thumping loudly against his chest.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he heard the emcee say through the thinning smoke. "History has just been made in this arena tonight. Let us all congratulate Drew for winning the contest with the _world's first-ever perfect score._"

There was happiness, relief, and a bunch of other feelings Drew had never felt before.

Then he was swallowed by the applause and cheers of everyone within the vicinity.

* * *

"Congratulations, Drew."

"Can I have an autograph?"

"Take a selfie with me please!"

Drew sighed as he entertained the requests of the people who had gathered around him that night at the ball following the Grand Festival. While the place would have normally been a place without the obsessive fans of Drew and other coordinators, the male coordinator's brand new achievement created fans from those who normally would not pay much mind to him. Even his first ball as a Top Coordinator wasn't as bad as this. This night, however, it was as if a mob had been following him all night, and there was no indication that the mob was thinning out any time soon.

It had been two hours since the beginning of the ball, and the situation with Drew had been so ever since the beginning. He had not been able to see Solidad, May, or even Harley for that matter, ever since he had gotten to the venue.

"Mr. Drew!" a voice called, and Drew wasn't sure if he was glad that he'd finally found someone in the room who was remotely familiar (and by 'remotely,' that meant he'd had an actual conversation with), or to be mortified that one of his adamant fans, who just so happened to also be a fellow coordinator, had finally appeared.

"Brianna," Drew addressed. "What's up?"

"Would I be able to take a picture with you tonight?" the younger coordinator asked shyly.

"Why not?" Drew replied with a smirk. Throwing his arm around Briana's shoulders (to which the girl blushed a deep red to), the two posed as another fellow coordinator took their photo.

"Thank you, Mr. Drew!" Brianna exclaimed in excitement. In a smaller voice, she added, "May's out in the balcony, if you're looking for her," before rushing off to her small group of friends.

That was all Drew needed to excuse himself from the group that had surrounded him (with promises that they would see him the day after if they hung around the area), and make his way out the door to meet May.

As he opened the door, May, surprised by the sound of the door, turned around. As he did so, Drew found himself licking his lips without his brain telling his tongue to move.

"Hey," May greeted, stepping towards Drew. "I haven't seen you at all tonight."

"Were you even looking?" Drew asked, slipping his hands inside his pockets.

"It wasn't hard to know where you were, you know. The people were a giveaway. They just surrounded you so much that I literally couldn't see you."

"And yet you didn't bother coming over to approach me."

Shyly, May smiled. "Well, I didn't want to get run over by them." She tucked some hair behind her ear. "Plus I knew you'd look for me anyway. That's just how you are."

"Yeah," Drew agreed. "That's just me. Anyway, change of topic because I feel like I have to say this, but you look nice tonight. Trying to impress somebody?" Drew looked at May in a teasing manner as he said that.

"Just because I wear something fancy doesn't mean I'm trying to impress someone, you know?"

Drew almost scoffed. "May," he said in an arrogant manner, "I've seen you in ever Grand Festival Ball you've attended since you've started out as a coordinator. _Those_ dresses you wore then were fancy. _This_ dress though… it's the closest thing to sinful of all the stuff I've seen you wear."

"It's not sinful!" May protested, her face turning red.

"When less than a third of your leg is covered and your back is more or less displayed to the whole world, I think it is."

May suddenly felt herself get conscious about the little black lace dress she was wearing. "Solidad said it looked nice," May said in a small voice.

"I didn't say it looked bad on you," Drew said, noting the drop in his fellow coordinator's voice. "I'm just pointing out that it's not something you would normally wear to events like this. Although, I'm pretty sure though that whoever you wanted to impress was indeed impressed. His jaw probably would've dropped if he wasn't busy licking his lips when he saw you."

May's face turned even redder. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," May said. "You don't look bad either."

"Good," Drew said, "I'm trying to attract you so that you'd stick with me enough to spend an hour or two together, just talking."

The brunette turned to look at her rival with a questioning eyebrow perked up. "Did you seriously just say that?"

"Sure, why not?" He flicked his hair. He was not used to saying cheesy things like that, even to the people closest to him.

Grinning, May walked up and threw her arms around Drew's neck, pulling the May coordinator into a hug. "Looks like you missed me, Princess," Drew commented as he wrapped his arms around May's waist.

"Of course Mr. Perfect," May replied as the two pulled away from the hug. "Congratulations, by the way. You finally did it!"

"Yeah," Drew mused. "But practically lost everything else in the process."

"What are you talking about?"

"I," Drew solemnly. Like he did earlier that morning, Drew held May's chin and moved her face slowly so that he could look the girl in the eye. "I haven't been the best 'Drew' to you for the past year. To you, to Solidad,to Harley. And I'm really sorry for that.

"And I guess I haven't been the best 'Drew' to myself either."

"I don't think I'm following," May said in a worried voice. "You sound like you're not happy."

"Don't get me wrong though," Drew said as he wrapped an arm around May's waist and led her to the edge of the balcony. "I'm happy I figured it all out."

"But," May encouraged.

"But it's not worth it," Drew dismissed.

"What's not worth what?"

"This whole trying for perfection thing," Drew said. "You lose yourself trying to be something you aren't."

May giggled slightly. "It's interesting that you're admitting to not being perfect when everyone else around you practically thinks like you're a walking god."

As he kissed May's temple, Drew murmured, "You of all people would know I'm not though."

His bluntness took May by surprise. "It's not that," May started, only to be cut off by Drew.

"I haven't been paying attention to you much May, don't even try to defend me from myself. If I was perfect, I would have been to you as well."

May remained quiet, agreeing but not voicing out her agreement.

"May?" Drew said, breaking the silence that had befallen.

"Yeah," May said carrying the previous conversation. "You aren't perfect. Being born with dimples alone meant you were already imperfect ever since your birth." On cue, Drew smiled to show off the dimples May found cute. "Plus you could have taken me out to cute little dates in the park and on the beach, but you didn't because you were having dates with your notebook instead." His smile turned into an apologetic one.

"But," May continued, "I'm going to echo what everyone says about us because I believe in it too: You're perfect for me. And that's something you didn't have to lose yourself along the way to gain perfection."

Drew's smile turned into a smirk. "I didn't ask you for comfort because you thought I was feeling bad, you know? But if you wanted to be cheesy like that to make me feel better, I really do appreciate it, Princess."

May stuck her tongue out playfully. "I thought you were going to stop calling me that."

"I changed my mind. You're sort of my princess, Princess, so might as well get used to it."

"Whatever," May said, rolling her eyes but laughing at the same time. "I'm just glad you're back."

"I am too." Drew looked back in the room where the ball was being held. "Let's go back inside. I'm sort of hungry, and I bet you are too." May's stomach grumbled as if on cue. "Cute," Drew commented.

"The cutest," May said dryly out of embarrassment. Drew just kissed her nose to comfort her.

"I have a question," Drew said as he took May's hand and led her back into the ballroom. "On a scale of zero to thirty, how perfect am I for you?"

May laughed.

"You passed thirty a long time ago, Mr. Perfect. If, you know, perfection was given numbers."

* * *

**A/N**: Yes, they're together. They have been since the first May/Drew scene hehe.

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon._


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